Where to start, where to start after the epistle??
We left St Bartolome de Pinares (where we stayed near Avila) on Wednesday to go to San Lorenzo de El Escorial. Magnificent place, slightly too close to Madrid for my taste, but it was worth it. A monastery, cathedral and 2 royal palaces all rolled into one–in other words big and rich. And after seeing the artwork there you can skip the Prado!! We did skip Madrid using the ring road and this part was interesting because it was all underground—even entrances and exits. We had been on the ring road around Madrid in previous trips but never this part—very interesting.
Then we drove through La Mancha looking for Don Quixote and wondering what he thought of all of the wind farms in his La Mancha. We arrived in Cuenca to a lovely apartment and city. Fell in love with the hanging houses and the cathedral. It is a good thing we do not have much more time in Spain or things to see!! They all just keep getting better and how can that be?? Everything is so wonderful!! The cathedral in Cuenca is a sort of “nothing” little cathedral and yet it is magnificent!! We enjoyed seeing it and all of the art. Fernando and Josefina were our hosts along with Antonio our translator!! Antonio reminded me of Ricky Riccardo in I Love Lucy!! He es-plained everything to us–could not have done it without him!! Thanks, Antonio!! Josephina baked the cake and bought the Valencia oranges for us along with local wine!!
We left Cuenca to drive to Castelseras on our way to Barcelona. It was the only place we could get for the night because the country books up and triples prices for “Columbus Day Weekend, A National Holiday”!! Castelseras is a peaceful little village, very friendly and quiet, except for Sunday morning!! Heathens beware—no rest for the wicked!! The church bells very near us ring for a solid half hour before Sunday mass!!
See you in Barcelona!!
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